Anyone want to join me for a sleep training support thread?

[Bundlejoycosysweet]

Hello,

Just starting sleep training my 5 month old DD and thought it would be nice to chart how it goes on here and hope to get some company with fellow sleep trainers.

Hopefully this will give me more tips to try and more confidence to continue.

Hi trees when I said routine I meant it in the loosest sense as in do you get her to nap after two hours awake or just have two naps a day and roughly how long for?

DD generally only stays awake for two hours at a time and needs a total of about three hours of naps which she normally takes in two shortish naps and one longer one of about an hour and a half. Ideally I like her to have been awake three hours before bed so she is properly tired but that is not always possible.

Good luck today moxxie hope your new tactics work. DD still pretty snotty and grumpy so I am still on a slight sleep training hiatus, hoping she perks up soon cos I am knackered!

Well today has gone something like this woke at 6am when I brought her in bed to feed/doze till 8.30. Managed to get her to have 40 min nap at 11am then 30 mins at 2.30. She's tired now but fighting it. Do I give up trying?

Hi. I am a week into trying to sleep train my 6 month old twins. Daytime naps sorted - for the first time ever I have them napping in cots without being fed/rocked to sleep hurrah! And by that I mean they are napping at the same time! hurrah!
Nighttimes however are still a disaster! Up 7x between 9.30-4 last night, then dts awake from 4-5.15, then dtd awake from 5.45!!
Tonight going to try not to feed until 4hrs up and see if that helps. I need strength to hold out rather than feed them so I can go back to sleep but it has to be worth it long term?! Am then going to try and wean off the 2nd night feed once the 4 hourly gap is established. Help!!!!

Wow lala - that is impressive on the naps front. How did you manage that? Your nights sound terrible - I really feel for you with 2 to see to! do you dream feed them at all? Are they in their own room? My 6 month old dd has a dream feed at 10.30 & 1 night feed at about 2.30-3. There are of course another hundred or so wake ups during the night just for the hell of it!! I'm still rocking dd to sleep - how did you manage to establish your napping routine?

And welcome btw!

Well, my attempt to push his morning nap back resulted in a grizzle-fest for. the. whole. day. And then he woke up at 5.00. Gah.
He did stay in his bed until 4-ish though, so the constant suckling seems to be abating. I wonder whether it's time to stop co-sleeping though? I think he's more restless in bed with us (we have a sidecar cot). I'm willing to try anything!

Zambooloo, I'm trying to tinker with naps too to stop the early waking. No joy thus far, but I suspect I should have tried to phase it in gradually rather than just forced him to stay up...

Lala tell us your (daytime) secret!

moxxie I have gone back to 3 naps a day but I'm determined to stick to the no naps before 9am rule. So today's plan is 9-10, 12.30-2.00/2.30 then 1/2hr at 4 or 4.30 with bed at 7ish. Since trying to drop the last nap dd has just spent the whole day tired and miserable - no fun for anyone so I'm trying this new plan out for afew days. She was up at 5.20 today so I'm hoping for some improvement on that (I'd be happy with 6)!

zambooloo your nap plan sounds good, let us know how it pans out. DD does sleep well in the day but it is all a bit free form as she naps in the sling because I am always having to dash off on various school or nursery runs so can't really do the whole cot for napping thing (wish I could though cos my back is getting pretty sore lugging DD around!).

DD was up at 6.30 this morning and keeping her up until 9am resulted in over tiredness and a thirty min nap...but I got her back on track with an hour and a half nap from 11. She is snoozing again now and I guess this will be last nap of the day so hope I can squeeze an hour out of her!

moxxie it's worth giving not co sleeping a go. I ditched it at three months as I was not sleeping well and when DD does sleep for a good chunk in her cot it is bliss to have my bed to myself. Also I find the only way to combat the early waking is to have co sleeping as my back up to wheel out at 4 am when DD looks like she'd be up for getting up, a quick snuggle together and I can eke her out to 6.30 or 7 am.

Kudos to lala for getting twins into a good nap schedule! You must pass on your secret!

Hiya! For naps i decided on 9-9.40, 12-2 & 4-4.30. I then moved from them sleeping in Moses baskets downstairs to upstairs in cribs. All (haha) I have done is take them up about 7 mins before. Told them it's naptime. pulled the blind down and put the sea music on. Pop them in sleeping bags, read a (very) short story, say 'time for a little sleep, love you' and pop them in their cots. Dtd goes off almost instantly. Dtd needed lots of pupd for the first couple of days and is now down to about 7 mins of pupd. I wake them when naptime is over and no matter what time they wake (a killer when it's 5am) they do not nap until 9. If they don't sleep for the whole naptime it's pupd until naptime is over. If that means only 30mins sleep has been achieved in the 2 hr lunchtime nap window then so be it.
It's hard but I was going mad after 6 months of them never napping together and it really wasn't fair on dd as she never got any 1:1 time.
This lunchtime they did the whole 2 hours with no pupd needed and I only started last Tuesday.
Last night better. Only up about 7x. Only fed dts once and dtd twice. Dtd just moved last Tuesday from cosleeping with me and it's made all the difference. she did wake every 1.5hrs for a little settling feed but is now sleeping for some 3-4 hour slots (now if only they could coordinate with the slots her brother and older sister do I'd be laughing!!!) haha

Oh, I sleep in with them. I don't df - maybe I should but it never worked with dd so I didn't bother. Last night, though I was shattered so after I fed dtd about midnight I decided to wake dts and feed him too. I think this helped and was a sort of df.

Well just a v quick update for me to log more than anything - naps today not quite as planned...
Awake at 5.20
8.45-9.15 on dog walk
10-10.30 cot
12.30-3 cot (too long!!!)
Bath 6.00
Asleep by 6.30

Will catch up and post again later but wanted to get the naps down while I remember timings!!

Hey zambooloo,

The long nap doesn't necessarily sound too long. Your babe was up very early so maybe they needed that. I always think one long, good nap is a positive sign as if overtired babies tend to only catnap for 30 mins.

Hopefully your night will be good.

DD just woke after only being down for two hours...still blaming the sore ear but not sure how long that excuse will last!

Happy sleeping everyone!

Hi all well bundle I'm sure this will jinx the whole night but you may be right. Not woken yet which is pretty much unheard of!

Hi Ladies,
Last night my dd went down to sleep by 8pm. Woke at 1.30am for a feed and I decided instead of then sitting and cuddling him till I was sure he was back asleep (which is what I normally do) I popped him straight back in his cot awake and left the room. Heard him grizzling for about 15 minutes but then silence- he had fallen back asleep himself! Again woke at 5.30 for a feed and I did the same again instead of thinking that this was get up time for the day. Result- he went back to sleep again till 9!!! Shame dd had me up at 7.30 but still massive progress. Fingers crossed for tonight. Can I just ask if people think I should be dropping the night feeds now and if so how???? (DS is 9 months and now formula fed).

Wow milkys great progress! You know he can resettle now so that should give you confidence to keep going.

I stopped feeding my two sons in the night once they were on three meals a day (I think at seven months) and they both slept through from then. I plan to night wean DD by then too. However I would be led by your DS to a certain extent. Do you think he eats enough in the day? If so then start by dropping one feed and see how it goes for a few nights. You never know he might surprise you and just sleep through. Advice I always took was, once they drop a feed never give it back!

Keep us posted!

Thanks bundle. DH and I were just discussing today that we don't think he eats that much food compared to what his sister did at same age and maybe increasing food intake may help. We are taking a BLW approach though so not sure how to get the little monkey to eat more than he wants! Might try tonight just giving the one feed in the night and then when he wakes 5ish just going in and offering dummy and maybe shush pat- will see how it goes and re post tomorow. Hope your dd is feeling better soon. Good luck for tonight.

Aaggghh justgot dtd settled after 2 hours of screaming (prior to which dts screamed foranhour) and dts is waking up aaagg

Ds woke at 11.45pm for a feed (earlier than usual not sure why?). Settled self back to sleep easily but then was awake again at 4.30am. Tried to avoid giving the second feed but caved in after 10 minutes and went to warm some milk. DS took about 5oz and then just would not settle. Tried doing a mix of shush pat and PUPD but at 5.30 could listen to the crying now more and got the monkey up as he was obviously wide awake . Not sure whether this as the right decision or not. Now 5.50 and Ds mooching around my ankles looking all sad as if it is my fault we are up at this silly hour . I am predicting he will go back to sleep in next hour by which time his sister will be up for the day. DH by the way is sleeping soundly in bed

I'll join but right now I'm going to get my head down for half an hour. Will catch up later.

Finally finally got dtd to sleep after being up since 2 at 5.30 this morning.
Dd woke at 5.45
I have had 2 hours sleep.
They are 6 months old now SURELY I should be getting more than this????!!!

Can I join? I'm not sure what to do about my 8 month old DS. He is always fed or rocked to sleep and is waking 3 or 4 times a night. I can't go out in the evening because he wakes every hour to feed between 7 & 11

If I start on pupd can I just do evenings or should I nightwean all at once?

Oh dear Lala! Any chance you can nap during the day today? I always plan to but life somehow gets in the way.

DS got some fairly decent naps in yesterday, but was shattered by 5pm. I eked him out until just after 6, but he woke after 15 minutes in his cot. Resettled by 7, then a normal evening i.e. feed every 3-ish hours.
I'm being tougher about putting him back in his cot after nightfeeds, which I think is helping, but I have on more than one occasion woken up with him in my arms with no idea how he got there!

Woke up at 5.15 but rocked back to sleep. Stayed down until 6.20 when a massive crap woke the whole house. I'm going to try keeping him up until 9 again, which should be more do-able with the later wake-up.

Question for all - what role are your partners playing in this? Are they on message or are you going it alone? I'd usually have a lie-in on a Saturday but I know DH would put DS to sleep rather than keeping him up until 9...

Hi everyone...
Lala - that is truly crap. I don't know how you are doing it? My dd is 6mo next Friday, obviously ALL my friends babies are sleeping through (or waking once for a little feed & going straight back)!

My excellent napping yesterday obviously counts for nothing. She woke pretty much hourly until 2 with an hour & 1/2 awake from 10 then bought her into bed with me where she slept until 4. I fed her but she was wide awake so left her but she just got really upset and was obviously wide awake. She's just gone back to sleep about 10 mins ago!

The room is completely dark - how does she know to wake at exactly 4 EVERY morning?!?

I'm v sorry I can't remember all poster's names - too tired! But welcome to new people & sorry you're having to join! How old are your dcs?

Lala - how is weaning going? I'm wondering if it might help?

My dp helps loads but is shortly to be made redundant & is v v stressed & busy at work so during the week he stays up and does last feed at 10.30 then I go to bed at about 8 or 9 in preparation for terrible nights! I do through the night then if I've had a really bad night I get dp at 4 and he takes over so I get another 2hrs before he has to get ready for work. I'm really trying to make it through the night without having to get him at 4.

At weekends we share more - he goes to her until more like 1 or 2am then I do the rest. What about everyone else's partners?

Hope you are all being able to enjoy a little Saturday morning sleep in!! (wishful thinking)!

Morning all! Last night was not too bad.

DD woke at 8.30 for some reason but was quickly resettled by DH (while I supped on wine!) then she woke for a feed at 10.30 ( which I didn't mind as movie was over and I was off to bed). Then she woke at 12.45 so I went in and she started sucking her fingers and seeming to try and resettle so I waited but she cried a bit and for some reason I caved and fed her, all the time thinking what an idiot I was cos she clearly was thinking about resettling.

She woke again at 2am so this time I was hardcore and didn't feed just stroked her back for a minute or two and she went back to sleep until 5am when I fed her and snoozed with her until 6.30.

Must toughen up or I will get nowhere with this!

Feeling for lala sounds like the night from hell!

Welcome golemmings and outnumbered to answer your question on night weaning \ PUPD I started on just evenings and once started to see a bit of progress have started to tackle night weaning too.

moxxie as for DH I am letting him have a lie in this morning as he usually gets the early mornings after my bad nights because he is not so good at getting up in the night (gives him migraines) so he usually does mornings while I grab a couple of extra zzzzzz. I feel halfway decent this morning so thought it only fair DH got to have a lie in.

Another question for everyone...was your LO once good at sleeping and got bad or started bad?

DD not good from birth. Everyone kept insisting it was four month sleep regression but I had to point out that she was not regressing cos she had never progressed! :)

bundle dd was bad from birth. She wouldn't sleep anywhere unless being held. Hated Moses basket just screamed & screamed. We tried everything but she just wanted to be held. We co-slept out of complete desperation after 3 weeks of madness with Moses basket, cot & sleeping in shifts!! Everyone kept telling me it was just because she was so young & she would grow out of it... Still waiting!! Although to be fair to her she is getting a lot better than she was!